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rsnapshot and another dedicated server/storage vps for the backups.
https://www.digitalocean.com/community/tutorials/how-to-install-rsnapshot-on-ubuntu-12-04
(an installation example on Ubuntu. Works fine for most other distros too)
snapshots on digitalocean at times, when a server is moved region and such.
mysqldump, tar, compress and rsync files, like public html, /var/log files and mysqldumps elsewhere.
Thanks that was a pretty good tut. for setting it up, but it didn't mention anything about restoring. Also it only mentioned howto back up certain dirs. I want to do the whole vps so would i just b/u / ?
What for? Only backup what you need.
I'm looking for a solution kinda like clonzilla or snapshot so that I can recover the entire os if need be. I don't want to worry about missing a needed dir or link or whatever. After reading more about rsnapshot I don't think it can do that. The only way I have found is to clone lxc containers in kvm vps's, which uses a hell of a lot of resources. I'm just going to dump my providers that don't offer snapshots:(
Sorry if you think I'm doing it wrong but it works for me. I don't have the time to reinstall the OS, all of my services/programs, reconfigure every service, backup and restore the DB and then put the B/U files back every-time an update goes south or I fubar something in wordpress. If your provider deadpools or you have to migrate to another VPS sure I could see going thru all that, but it's just not the resolution I was looking for. Thanks for answering my post though.
mysqldump
tar
10 lines install script
done
It should be pretty much standard these days for providers to offer backups (either included or as an optional extra), and if they don't then.. they're probably not worth bothering with.
Although, best practise is to keep more than one copy and in different locations.
@4n0nx Sounds doable except that 10 line script part. Maybe you could be an awesome contributor and make up a tutorial for all the dummies like me...
I basically just install all the things I need (apt-get install nginx mysql,..), unpack my backup .tar.bz2 file (tar -xjvf), import all databases (some one line mysql command) and move all the files to the folders they belong in (web server folder, config folders,..). Then I restart all services (service restart nginx, service restart mysql,..). Done.
It's funny because all of the desktop virtualization tools (virtualbox, vmware, etc.) offer this functionality and it's kinda lame that the major datacenter hosting panels don't.
I see backups as different. What I want from snapshots (or linked clones, etc.) is "I'm about to upgrade/install/try something and I want to roll back painlessly if it breaks things".
Have you considered Docker?
Reportedly has very low footprint resource wise...
Recent development: heard it works inside latest OpenVZ kernel (so better check with each provider if they support it).
1) Most OpenVZ providers will perform a snapshot for you if asked (you need to open a ticket).
2) If asked, most will activate SolusVM's existing built-in function, allowing you to perform such snapshots from your client panel without the need to ask support.
Why LXC and not OpenVZ containers, pray tell? OpenVZ inside KVM has very little overhead. Not to mention snapshots ready to use with any OpenVZ provider. I'm surprised to hear that LXC is so resource intensive… have you actually done any benchmarking?
@aglodek Yep as of OVZ Kernel 042stab105.4 or later version Docker should work. However it might be against your provider's terms of service to run nested environments inside an OVZ VPS. Docker is based on LXC and is basically for single process containers, I use LXC for multi process containers. As for why I use LXC instead of OVZ, simple, I have no experience using OVZ:) No I haven't done any benchmarking but I have looked at the memory usage and while you can run mail, dns and wordpress with a couple sites on a 256mb OVZ, I don't think that would be possible using KVM with an LXC container. The host needs a little more headroom.
Hello,
For the customers who does not use snapshots or do not want to pay for an additional service i advise them to rsync data to another server.
Agreed. However, given LEB pricing, I see no reason to limit myself to such extremes. I prefer single process VM's with a little more generous tech specs, where the additional overhead is negligible.
FYI: Docker is no longer LXC based, using new, prioprietary containerization system.
OK so it seems pretty clear that there are basically only 2 or 3 solutions that we are using.
1) Rsync/Rsnapshot and rebuild the server.
2) Run a nested environment and clone the containers.
3) A combination of 1 and 2.
I only started this thread because I thought that surely I was missing something given that the majority of my providers don't offer snapshots or even a paid back-up solution.
I just use duply to make a weekly incremental snapshot of the entire server and a nightly of critical data. Duply will encrypt and compress data, and upload it to a S3 bucket. Every new backup will automatically delete the last. From S3 I do a monthly rotation to Glacier and every two months I delete old data from Glacier and leave only one backup resting there.
To restore a backup, I just use the restore function on a vanilla install. If I'm using a dedicated server or a KVM machine, I will use the recovery image to make the restore instead of doing it directly over the disk asnit can cause weird problems.
Everything is automated except the restore process.